How do I stop my cat from ruining my house?

I need some help from all of the animal lovers. My son's cat has destroyed my leather couch and chair. Please do not tell me to "provide a scratch post or gently pull him away" when he is scratching my furniture. He has a scratch post. If I could spend all day with him, gently correcting him may work. I have tried spraying him with water. Nothing works! He is mostly Persian and very stubborn. I need some alternatives to de-clawing him. Any help is greatly appreciated!Thanks to everyone for your fast responses the great suggestions! I greatly appreciate your help!

Lemon and orange scented sprays and vinegar help. They can't stand the smell so that helps deter them. Best of luck.

Go to the vets and buy some of the solutions they have that you can use to discourage animals from approaching certain things. Also, look around on the internet for plastic covers that you can put on chair corners to stop them sharpening their claws on them. Fasten pieces of carpet or carpet mats across areas where you're having the most trouble. We have pieces of carpet in our house in some odd places and if anyone ever comes here and asks why, I'll simply tell them, "It's more sensible than battling with the cats over where they're allowed to scratch and if they ruin the carpet mat, I'll only need to replace it rather than have to replace the chair.""Stubborn" sounds like your key point here so I do strongly recommend taking steps to protect the furniture, rather than tear your hair out trying to stop him.You can also get claw covers for cats. Never used them but what I've read suggests they're very effective.You can also try filing the claws back somewhat, if the cat will let you. Just google for information on that.

Bitter Apple Spray works well, cats don't even like to be near it. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bitter-Apple-Spray-8-oz-Dogs/3635337You can also file their nails for them, so that they do not feel the need to file them on your things. Also, petco sells these "soft claw" nail covers for cats, they work very well, I have used them in the past as needed.http://www.petco.com/N_254/Soft-Claws.aspx?fromsearch=true&CoreCat=LookAheadAlso, a water spray bottle can work well to correct bad behavior if you add ice to make it very cold. - Both of my cats like water, but neither one likes getting sprayed.Personally, I have an office space in my house with a door that closes and I converted it into a mini cattery, complete with a cat tree, bed, toys, pillows, litter box, etc. When I am gone during the day, they stay in the cattery. When I return home from work, they are out and about, but I am home to monitor them.Also, when I first bought them the tree and scratching posts, they ignored them, but I covered them in catnip and after I converted the room into the cattery and they spent the daytime in there, they came to really like the tree and posts, use them all the time now.Hope this helps. Just one note - it would be better for your cat to be declawed and therefore able to live happily and peacefully with his family, than for him to remain not declawed, but in a high stress environment, or worse, taken to the pet shelter due to irreconcilable differences.

I have a siamese cat that loves scratching furniture even though she has 3 scratch posts in the house. One day she took a liking to a foot stool that I had just upholstered myself. I decided to let her do what she wanted with this foot stool and she now loves so much scratching it and she doesn't go for the furniture so much. I feel that by making this compromise we are both winners. That foot stool is in absolute tatters, and if we have visitors we just put it away while they are here. You can get some cat deterrent sprays to spray on your couch, but it doesn't last for very long and you have to keep spraying. Have a look in the pet shops or ask your vet. If the cat is still a kitten, please consider that as it reaches maturity it will slow down a bit in its behavior. We built a large outdoor cat enclosure between the neighbor fence and our house, it is 22 m long and 2 m wide, and it has cat netting enclosing it so the cats can be outside and also safe. We have a shaded and water proof area in the enclosure, and we put up shelves on the wall they can sit on, there is also a cat tunnel, a hammock, a climbing pole, and several sleeping places with soft cat beds. They can freely go in and out from the house to the cat enclosure day and night through a joining cat flap door in our laundry. This way our cats are not cooped up inside all day and don't get into so much mischief because they have a more natural life style. We put lots of pot plants, and pots with cat grass in the cat enclosure, and they love sitting up high looking out on the road seeing what is going on outside. I am just explaining this because for us it is a way of helping both the cats and ourselves to have a nice life. You see, a cat that has a balanced life and sufficient sensory stimulation is a much more satisfied cat, and not so likely to display unwanted behavior. Best of luck, I am sure you will soon find a good solution, and I commend you for not de-clawing your cat. Most de-clawed cats have so many bad side effects, especially regarding their toilet habits. Best of luck to you and pus.